Fluff and Static
by FantasticNic
Summary: Mira in in labor...the group in the waiting room shares stories to pass the time. A continuation of The Softer Side of Laxus after about a 6 month time skip.
1. Chapter 1

**Fluff and Static is a sequel of The Softer Side of Laxus that takes place after a six month time skip. This is going to be a fluffy mass of stories I imagined about the pairings from my last story that are shared while they wait for Mira to have her baby. BONUS: name Mira's baby in the reviews, I will pick one with a random generator.**

A weekly tradition occurred between the Thunder God Tribe and their significant others over the last six, it was jokingly referred to as the Beast Feast due to the takeover Strauss siblings habit of using magic to win games, and it was a gathering that usually included a dinner and game night of sorts. The night was held at the Justine household this time around, Freed and a very pregnant and downright scarily happy Mira served a spread as they played cards, normally the events were more exciting and energetic but everyone worried that Mira was just too far along to handle the kind of chaos that usually came with the night. Around the table sat the hosts along with Lisanna and Bixlow bickering over whether he had been secretly salting her food when she looked away (he was), Evergreen and Elfman whispering about his next turn in the poker game which he was being advised (TOLD) how to play by a very opinionated Ever, and Laxus and Juvia.

Laxus was rubbing his hands on his face in an obvious show of frustration as he attempted to teach Juvia how to play poker, the frustrating part was that this wasn't the first time she had played with the group, but every time poker came up as the activity he had to teach her how to play again. Not just each night, it seemed it was each hand, she would lay her cards on the table so everyone ended up knowing what she had, and he would try to pick them up and shove them back in her grasp while helping her figure out what she was doing. He had more patience than anyone ever would have guessed knowing his usual attitude but he felt partially responsible for this lapse of memory as it stemmed from an encounter and resulting injury from a battle she had with his father.

The condition was unique, due to an extreme electric shock she sustained in her water state she had a magic residue that was difficult to remedy, although through a new procedure by Porlyusica it was improving with every treatment and it was easily seen with the improvement in her memory and reaction time. It was still hard for Laxus to see the struggle on her face as she tried to remember newer things, despite the improvement he always felt guilty because the shock was from his attack toward his father, and no matter what Juvia maintained her positive attitude and refused to allow others to change and attempt to accommodate her so poker night carried on.

As game night carried on and the meals were finished the jokes and conversations carried on well into the night, when suddenly Evergreen squawked that the floor was wet, eyes shot to Juvia and she blushed heavily, "Hey! It wasn't me!" She yelled as she gestured across the table.

One. Two. Three seconds passed. CLICK "MIRA!" Attention shifted and commotion clattered all throughout the room. Bags were grabbed and the all-too-chipper Mira sat in shock with hands on her swollen belly seemingly frozen in her chair. Freed grabbed her bridal style and hurried toward the door and the whole crew headed toward the hospital.

Once the expectant parents were in a room, the remainder of the group sat in the waiting room chatting and betting among themselves on the gender and stats of the impending arrival. "Why in the world do you think she didn't say anything? Her water broke and she sat there frozen, I started to wonder if I accidentally turned her to stone" Evergreen jested.

"Well she has been in early labor on and off for weeks, she may have thought it was another false alarm." Lisanna guessed.

"Or maybe her happy vibes were crashing down." Elfman murmured. "This pregnancy was the absolute longest time she has gone without going demon soul on anyone.' He pointed out in disbelief.

"I can not believe you all thought I had flooded the floor." Juvia muttered and he smacked Laxus on his arm as If it was his fault. He bit his tongue and did not mention that it was a justified reaction since she tended to do exactly that when she lost during the Beast Feast.

Bixlow seemed distracted, almost staring off into space, and it took a few moments before Lisanna snapped off and scolded him, "Bix, stop, I KNOW what you are doing and Mira will kill you." It then became apparent that he had sent his babies to check up on the parents-to-be.

Bixlow slumped in his seat with an expression of attitude and snark while saying, "It doesn't matter anyway, Freed already put up runes to keep me out, clever bastard," obviously annoyed and impressed with his speed on the matter.

Ever laughed at this and smirked, "He told me he was going to do exactly that the moment they got in the room, we all knew you'd try something."

Laxus absentmindedly stroked the ends of Juvia's hair that cascaded down her back, he looked around at the group and wondered how they got to this point. Freed and Mira having a baby and married, Bixlow and Lisanna living together, Elfman and Evergreen engaged, although secretly, and that left him wondering about himself and Juvia, they hadn't taken any huge steps but they had been together for a bit over six months.

A nurse peered into the waiting room and approached the group of mages, "Are you the family of the Justines?" She asked and was received by many eager nods. "I came out to inform you that all is well but we may be in for a long night. We will keep you posted with updates, but first babies can take time, so we wanted you to be prepared." As the nurse left the room there was an exchanging of glances before Lisanna spoke, "Do you know what this reminds me of? The wait for Mira to come down the aisle at her wedding." She was overtaken by a fit of giggles and Juvia quickly joined in wiping tears from her eyes.

"That was the longest wedding march I had ever heard, I thought Lucy was going to run out of magic power keeping Lyra there to play Mira down the aisle." Juvia barely got through her giggles.

"We all stood there for so long, we had no idea what was going on back there." Bixlow stated, "I had heard talk about pregnant hormones, but that was insane."

Juvia remembered the day in jest with the rest of her friends, and smiled. Mira and Freed's wedding day was beautiful, just a few weeks after a horrible day at the guild but still everyone came together to throw an amazingly elegant affair. Freed stood waiting for Mira at the end of the aisle with Laxus, Bixlow, and Elfman and what should have been a few minutes until the bridesmaids came down turned into over an hour, the crowd had lost its reverent silence and a brawl had broken out between Gajeel, Natsu, and Grey and the three had to be kicked outside until Erza could diffuse the situation. Mira was being blocked in the room by Lisanna and Evergreen while Juvia kept Warren informed telepathically about the holdup. "I don't know what to tell you, the bride says the baby wants a piece of cake and I don't think we are going to make it out of here alive until she gets it, it's like Erza with strawberry cake," Juvia swallowed."…but crazier," she added quietly. After almost an hour of tears and frustrations behind the scenes the wedding started with a chain of exhausted bridesmaids and a blushing beautiful bride with icing on her face.

 **(More to come...sick baby in my lap makes it hard to keep going)**


	2. Chapter 2

**I had planned on making this chapter longer, but instead you have a mini-chapter. One of my spawn has been in and out of the hospital and it took a lot of my attention. I have the second half of the chapter in editing now, but with the holiday I figured I would split it and give you something now.**

Fourty minutes into their wait for more news on Mira's delivery the group had shared stories about not only Freed and Mira's wedding but many other adventures as well, Lisanna's face broke into an infectious smile and everyone grinned at her waiting to hear what tale she had remembered, Bixlow had just returned with fresh coffee for the crew when she began to speak. "Oh Juvia, I remember the day Asuka wanted to do your hair and you sat for half the day in the guild hall while she piled bows and ribbons into your hair." She gave a wink and said, "You'd be a great mother, you have the patience of a saint."

Juvia's cheeks turned rosy and she shook her head in the tiniest motion. "I don't know about that, it's more like I have the patience of someone that doesn't have kids yet." But this story made Laxus think for a moment about the possibility of a family, in his head he snickered thinking they would likely be the most daring and rambunctious group of kids this side of Fiore.

Bixlow then joined in with his memory, "When you two first got together we always knew how to spot when you'd been sneaking around the back rooms of the guild hall." He glanced at Lisanna, "Remember the first time we saw Juvia pop out of nowhere with static in her hair, the whole thing was a mess and it was practically floating from the electric charge left from their little make out session. Sure enough a few minutes later there was Laxus with that smirk on his face." Laxus spit his coffee out and Juvia hid her face in his shoulder, how did she never realize it had been that obvious?

Elfman shouted "Being that energetic is manly!" and Evergreen interrupted him by placing her hand firmly over his mouth and shaking her head. The muffles coming from his mouth showed that he clearly did not agree with her opinion that he needed to stop commenting.

Laxus broke into the conversation with his own entertaining jab, "What about when Elfman realized his little catchphrase could make Mira cry harder than one of Juvia's mini-floods?" Elfman silenced his muffled attempts to speak and turned slightly red. "That day that Juvia took Mira shopping for a new dress to fit the belly and the first thing out of this guy's mouth is ' **It makes you look Manly**.' Oh, I have never seen a woman cry that hard in my life."

A hearty laugh was shared by the group, all except Elfman, who had a stoic look of remorse on his face for a moment before turning the tables on Laxus. "Like you didn't embarrass yourself the day you chased Leon out of the guild for calling Juvia radiant at Freed's wedding reception." He snorted. "You looked like a cat after a mouse chasing him around the park saying you were going to knock his teeth down his throat."

Laxus scowled and muttered, "He needed to learn to stop chasing a taken woman," then poked Juvia in the side, "and someone wasn't sticking up for herself." Juvia shifted in her seat and although her lips moved no sound came out. "But we all know you don't like hurting his feelings," Laxus smiled, "You are too nice to that poor sap."

"And you hit him with the bouquet I caught," she giggled, "petals went everywhere. I wanted to save that!" The teasing and tales continued for a while longer and slowly the group began to get tired, falling asleep one by one. The guys tried to sit up in their seats and stay awake but ended up dozing in the most uncomfortable looking positions while the girls were draped over seats with their heads on the shoulders of the men.

Bixlow heard the doors creak open and their friend the nurse had returned with news. (To be continued)


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three, more of 2.5 since 2 was so short.**

"May I ask where Juvia is," Bixlow prodded the sleeping girl in the shoulder to wake her up, "the mom-to-be would like to see you please." Juvia practically popped up from her position leaning against Laxus and bounded off behind the nurse who seemed slightly unnerved by the amount of energy radiating off the freshly woken mage. When Juvia reached the room she peeked around the door slowly and cleared her throat to announce her arrival. "You wanted to see me?"

Mira smiled but looked extremely tired, her face was flushed and she was clearly in a great amount of pain. Freed gestured Juvia over and placed Mira's hand in hers. "The baby is almost here and we wanted you to be here for the arrival since you played such a big part in making sure we made it to this day." Freed then walked to the other side of the bed and grasped Mira's other hand as she gripped down and began to experience another contraction.

"I'd say it's time to push!" the doctor exclaimed as she came in to check the progress. "I can see a little green tuft of hair already, so baby is right there." Mira looked nervous, and it was not something that Juvia had only seen from the strong woman one other day, and she understood why she was there to support her friend once again.

"You can do this Mira, let's meet your baby." Juvia whispered into her ear. After another ten minutes of pushing and coaching a small cry was heard, the three mages saw the doctor raise a little bundle and turn it slightly to face them. A beautiful squishy pink face was there, graced with green wisps of hair and eyes that blinked a few times and settled closed again sweetly. Juvia gasped quietly and felt a warmth in her heart upon seeing the baby.

Freed and Mira were leaning their foreheads together as the nurse placed the bundle in Mira's arms. They whispered and cooed sentiments to their new arrival and the nurse announced, "It's a girl." Freed proudly looked at his daughter and Mira snuggled the baby in her bundle. The family was so happy and perfect, Juvia thought to herself that it was worth every moment of recovery from her injuries to have ensured that all three of them made it.

Mira then whispered to Freed and he brought the bundle over to Juvia, "Aunt Juvia, Would you like to take your goddaughter out to meet his other Aunts and Uncles?" Juvia practically squealed when she took the tiny baby girl in her arms. "We aren't done picking the name yet, but they should at least get to meet him while we get Mira cleaned up." Freed explained.

The doors to the waiting room opened slowly and the nurse stepped aside to reveal Juvia beaming with the baby in her arms protectively. She kept stealing glances down at the little sleeping person in her grasp, so perfect and sweet. Laxus stood staring at the sight before him, his coffee slipped from his hand and the cup tipped it's contents onto the floor as he walked forward. Something about the sight of Juvia so happy with a baby turned the large man's brain to complete mush, he just had to get closer. "it's a girl, you all have a niece" Juvia said in a quiet voice above the sleeping baby's head, her lips pressed to her temple and she brushed her hand over his silky hair once more before she handed her over to a hyperventilating Lisanna.

"I am an aunt, officially an aunt. I have a niece." She rambled as she rocked the sweet baby. "does she have a name yet?" she asked and Juvia shook her head no.

Laxus drew Juvia in close, his brain running on the high of having the sight of her and the baby, he placed his lips on her neck and then asked "Could we do that?" She turned to meet his eyes wondering what he meant, "Do you want to do the whole thing? Move in, get married, have kids? Because I can see that, and I think I want that." Her face was changing as she processed his words, and fearing her rejecting the idea he followed up with, "Not right this second, but you know…take the steps."

Juvias brain had finally finished the processing and she was starting to radiate a glow and smile like he had never seen before. "We should do all of those things. Take steps, all of it" She practically danced on the spot. The others were so caught up with the new baby that they had missed the entire conversation and only noticed that something had happened when they saw Juvia throw herself on Laxus and start covering his face in kisses.

"what'd I miss?" Freed said from the doorway pushing an exhausted but elated looking Mira. The proud father looked at Laxus with a raised eyebrow and smirk.

"I don't know quite what to call it myself," Juvia smiled and tilted her head to peer at Laxus, hoping he might chime in with the words she couldn't seem to find at the moment.

Laxus squeezed Juvia in close under his protective arm and an unusually wide grin spread across his face as he announced, "She's making an honest man out of me. We're gonna do the whole deal, so I guess you could say we're engaged but that means I owe this woman a ring."

Cheers broke out across the group and there were hugs and back pats as Lisanna darted out of the throng of excited people to protect her new niece from the chaos. "it's okay little one, you'll get used to us." She whispered to the baby as she smiled at her quirky friends.

"What are you going to call her?" Evergreen asked peering at the baby girl. "She needs a name or Elfman is going to end up calling her man and I am going to have to smack him." She elbowed the large man in his ribs and laughed.

"We had a boy name decided, but we never could pick a girl name." Mira explained. "I just can't seem to find one we can both agree on."

Juvia pondered for a few moments while the rest of the group threw out suggestions. Rowan, Caliope, Tiara, Misty. All the names were thought about and then passed on. "Lyric" Juvia said finally. I looked up some names a while back and that stood out because it reminded me of her parents." When everyone looked at her without speaking she decided to explain further. "Well a lyric is part of a song, and a song is of course made of words which reminded me of Freed's runes, and songs flow and change as they play which made me think of Mira's takeover changes." She punctuated her thought with a meek smile and glanced around.

Freed nodded thoughtfully and Mira looked pleased. "I think that would be lovely Juvia, it's so soft and sweet sounding but has a great reason behind it, and you are her Godmother so I think it would be wonderful to be able to tell her you helped name her." Mira took her daughter from Lisanna and spoke down to her "Our Lyric."

"Why didn't you bring that up sooner, like months ago?" Freed jested. "You could have saved us many arguments about names." Seeing his wife's face at that comment he quickly added, "Not that it wasn't an enjoyable experience to spend those hours and hours with my wife." Mira rolled her eyes.

"I just didn't want to overstep, I am sure you got name suggestions from everyone," she giggled, "Like Bixlow suggesting Bixletta."

Bixlow gave a smug look, "It would have been a beautiful name."

"Are you ready for your first day as being replacement-Mira?" Lisanna asked Juvia. "Did she train you up well enough to run that joint while she is home with Lyric?"

"Let's just say I expect it will be an adventure." She answered. "and probably a whole lot more dangerous that most missions." She paled a bit at the image of a table smashing into her while she tended bar, "Maybe I should encourage Natsu to take a job as soon as I see him."

The nurse joined the group and spoke to the new parents, "It's getting late, would the two of you like to get some rest?" she motioned to the group, "your friends can come back tomorrow during visiting hours, I am sure you would all like to get some sleep."

Goodbyes were said and the friends headed out, as Juvia kissed Laxus goodnight she turned to head toward Fairy Hills and he grabbed her wrist and spun her back to look at him. "Would you like to give this moving in together thing a nice trial run tonight? We're closer to my-oh OUR place anyway." Juvia nodded as Laxus kissed her deeply and threw her over his shoulder, "let's go, you have no idea what you have gotten yourself into, should we start calling you Mrs. Dreyar to get you used to it?" he teased and headed toward home.

 ****possible bonus chapter of Juvia as replacement for Mira in the guild in the works****


End file.
